Philadelphia was being shaped into the city we know today. The Inquirer was there to record it all.
The New Public Building, as it was then called, was a monument to Philadelphia's Iron Age, a symbol of its power, prestige, and population growth. The operations of government had long been crowded at Fifth and Chestnut Streets. A special election in 1870 decided the location of the new building: 51,623 Philadelphians had voted for the winning location, while 32,825 wanted Washington Square.
It was a massive undertaking, the largest masonry building in the world, with more than 700 rooms. Until its completion in 1894, the construction site was a blur of activity, with deliveries of granite, wood, metal, glass, stone, ceramics. Materials arrived by trains and horse-drawn carriages, some of which ran along tracks to reduce friction.
The so-called Scotch Mafia dominated this phase of construction, including architect John McMahon, mason and contractor William Struthers, and sculptor Alexander Milne Calder. Working on-site, Calder created more than 250 relief and free-standing sculptures for the building, including the 37-foot-tall, 24-ton statue of William Penn that tops the structure.
John Wanamaker, a successful merchant with two stores, saw how this building would become the hub of the city. He placed his great department store, the 12-story granite Wanamaker building, in City Hall's shadow. It would be completed in 1910, and "Meet me at the Eagle" became a part of the local lexicon.
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In 1879, William Penn's "greene country towne" was a cosmopolitan center of business, culture, and manufacturing: If it could be made by hand, it was made here.
